Despite the security benefits that the US government is boasting, security advocates and experts say that the new RFID passports present an increased level of danger for passport users. Because of the technology being used, remote RFID readers can read information off the passports for cloning or malicious use. The US government argues that this is no different than having someone steal a physical passport -- they wouldn't be able to use it anyway. Officials claim that the information be stored on the new passports are encrypted and cannot be copied and modified. Likewise, the information on the passports cannot be scrambled or changed because the chips are read-only.

The US State Department already has a fairly comprehensive Frequently Asked Questions website about the new electronic passports. About half of the official Q&A from the State Department is with regard to security. For example, the site claims "To prevent eavesdropping, Basic Access Control (BAC) is employed in the
U.S. e-passport. BAC is similar to a PIN used in ATM or credit card
transactions. In the case of the electronic passport, characters from
the printed machine-readable zone of the passport must be read first in
order to unlock the chip for reading. Thus, when an electronic
passport is presented to an inspector, the inspector must scan the
printed lines of data in order to be able to read the data on the chip."

Staff counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center in
Washington said that "many of the advantages the industry is touting
are eliminated by security concerns." However, a German security
company has already demonstrated that information on the new passports
can be copied and transferred to another device. The State Department claims there is an anti-skimming technology in place to prevent this type of exploit specifically, though exact details of the counter-measure have not been revealed yet.

The new passports are being manufactured by Infineon Technologies, but production has not started yet. Other countries deploying new passport technologies include Japan, France and Canada. The new RFID passports are already being used in French international passports and Canada plans to introduce biometric passports sometime in 2007. Japan's all-biometic passports are already being rolled out in select regions. The UK is still in the planning phases for its passports.

The new passports will cost roughly $97 per passport and includes a $12 security surcharge. The US government expects the technology to be fully deployed within the year. Those with regular passports will still be able to use them until the expiration date is reached.

"The whole principle [of censorship] is wrong. It's like demanding that grown men live on skim milk because the baby can't have steak." -- Robert Heinlein